The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Women’s Basketball team only scored seven points in the second quarter and came up short in a 63-58 loss to the University of Mary in a Northern Sun Conference game played in Crookston.
Much like the previous night, Minnesota Crookston benefited from a strong defensive start to take an early lead. Bren Fox (Fr., Norwood Young America) scored a lay-up with 8:41 to play in the first quarter. That proved to be the only basket for either side until Fox scored another lay-up with 3:59 to play in the quarter giving the Golden Eagles a 4-0 lead. Isieoma Odor (R-Sr., Bloomington) scored inside growing Minnesota Crookston’s lead to 6-0 before UMary scored its first basket of the game with 2:36 to play in the opening quarter. The Marauders scored a second straight basket to pull within 6-4 before Odor scored another lay-up. After a Marauders’ jump shot, Odor connected on a jump shot before Paige Cornale (Fr., Oak Creek, WI) scored at the rim pushing the host’s lead to 12-6. UMary answered with a three-pointer to end the first quarter trailing 12-9.
UMary scored the first basket of the second quarter to pull within 12-11. Isieoma Odor answered with a jump shot giving Minnesota Crookston a three-point lead. A 5-0 run by UMary pushed the visitors ahead 18-16 with 1:43 to play in the first half before a Julia Peplinski (Fr., Hustisford, WI) three-pointer gave the Golden Eagles a 19-18 lead. The Marauders closed out the first half with a pair of free-throws to take a 20-19 lead into halftime. “We just can’t seem to get it all on the same page,” said UMC head coach Mike Roysland. “We’d get some inside scoring and then our guards don’t score. Last night our guards were scoring, but we didn’t have any inside presence. We have not been able to put it all together. I thought we were defending really well. It was a very physical game and we needed to be ready for it.”
Minnesota Crookston’s Isieoma Odor made her second three-pointer of the season to start the second-half giving the Golden Eagles a 22-20 lead. Following a pair of UMary free-throws, Caitlin Michaelis (Sr., Marshfield, WI) knocked down another three-pointer pushing the UMC lead to 25-22. A 5-0 run by the Marauders gave the visitors a 27-25 lead before Bren Fox made a lay-up through a foul with her free-throw giving the hosts a 28-27 edge. Trailing 29-28, Isieoma Odor buried a jump shot with 5:36 to play in the quarter sparking a 7-0 run giving Minnesota Crookston a 35-29 lead. Late in the quarter, UMary scored five straight points to take a 39-37 lead ending the quarter with a jump shot to take a 41-39 lead into the final quarter.
UMary opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run to take a 48-41 lead. A pair of free-throws from Isieoma Odor brought Minnesota Crookston back within 48-43 before a Marauders’ three-pointer gave the visitors a 51-43 lead. A three-pointer from Paige Weakley (Jr., Kearney, MO) with 2:38 left in the game brought the Golden Eagles within 59-52, but UMary made enough free-throws down the stretch to secure a 63-58 win. “It’s just really unfortunate for this club, because we’re close, but not close enough,” summarized Roysland. “We’re close to being good, but we’re not good. The kids are working hard, it’s not due to effort, but we just seem to struggle in the fourth quarter. We just can’t get enough things done when we need to. There’s a lot of fight left in these ladies before we find out where we’re going to go, but it was a tough weekend.”
‘Minnesota Crookston falls to 10-16 overall and 5-15 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the floor on Friday against Minnesota Duluth at 5:30 p.m. on KROX. UMary improves to 16-7 overall and 14-6 in conference play.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| UMary | 9 | 11 | 21 | 22 | 63 |
| UMC | 12 | 7 | 20 | 19 | 58 |
| UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Isieoma Odor | 24 | 5 | |
| Paige Cornale | 8 | ||
| Julia Peplinski | 7 | 11 | |
| Paige Weakley | 7 | 4 assists | |
| Bren Fox | 7 | 9 | |
| Caitlin Michaelis | 3 | ||
| Kylie Post | 2 | 3 |
